Coconut

A Brief History on Coconut Oil

For thousands of years, coconut oil has been consumed by entire populations around the world. Some of these civilizations utilize every part of the palm tree; the leaves are woven into baskets, the coconut shells used as bowls, the coconut pulp and milk consumed for their nutritional value, and the wood of the palm to build houses. Some countries even use coconut oil for the production of biodiesel.

Native to such countries as Ghana and the Philippines, the coconut has been an important part of cultural development and economic growth around the world. This may come as a surprise to many amidst the current confusion on the health benefits of coconut oil. The consensus that dietary coconut oil is bad for your health is the result of decades of campaign driven by the edible oil industry.

The Ghana Medical Journal wrote an article released September 2016 on how coconut oil has contributed to the national development in Ghana, and how the anti-coconut oil campaigns ran and sponsored by the edible oil industry have damaged national health and threaten the development of their country. Click here to read their article.​

"​Coconut oil has been shown to have the potential to protect against not only heart disease but a wide variety of chronic health problems including diabetes and cancer as well as a means to prevent and even treat infectious diseases, however, knowledge about coconut oil has been kept buried in medical journals because of a general prejudice against saturated fats" (4) (8).

What Is Coconut Oil?

Coconut oil is the oil extracted from the meat of a coconut. It may come in many forms, but before it is processed it is simply and commonly known as a coconut. The coconut is the fruit that grows from a coconut palm, also referred to as Cocos nucifera (c. nucifera). Cocos nucifera palms grow worldwide in tropical regions. Of the 55 million tons of coconuts produced in 2005, 73% came from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India. Other producing countries include Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Brazil. Coconut oil has a high melting temperature, burning point, and a long shelf life due to its high saturated fat content.​

How Coconut Oil Is Made

All coconut oil is produced from the meat of the coconut. This meat is extracted after opening the coconut and then a series of methods can be used to create the various coconut oils we consume.

Dry Process

The meat of the coconut is dried by a source of heat (sunlight, fire). The term given to the dried fruit flesh of the coconut palm is copra. The copra is then pressed, cooked with water, or dissolved (using chemical agents) to separate the meat and extract the oil.

​ If the copra oil is destined for worldwide distribution, then refinement and sometimes even hydrogenation methods are used next.

Refining Process - "RBD"

Refined, Bleached, and Deodorized.

That is what you receive when you purchase "RBD", or simply, refined coconut oil. Refined oil is made only after the "dry process". Coconut oil is squeezed out of the copra by a heated hydraulic press. After pressing, the coconut oil is then "refined".

What does it mean to refine something? In the realm of coconut oil to refine is to "heat up" and, in some instances, filter the oil as a means to kill potentially harmful bacteria or pathogens. The oil will also lose it's odor during this process. This is an important step to ensure the product does not spoil, turn, or cause serious illness. when it is finally consumed. However, if we refine a product like this, we must be aware that we are altering its' health benefits.

​ Side note: refined coconut oils are still known to eventually turn rancid.

Hydrogenation Process

Hydrogenated coconut oil has a much higher melting point than refined and unrefined coconut oil. It is popular in desserts and baked goods because of its ability to hold its form in these higher temperatures (melts at about 97-100 degrees, where as virgin and RBD oils will melt at 76 degrees).

As mentioned before, coconut oil is high in saturated fats. In coconut oil there are also unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids).

​ To hydrogenate coconut oil, the unsaturated fats are combined with hydrogen in a type of "catalytic conversion process". The result is less unsaturated fat and more saturated fat, which in return increasing the melting point of the oil.

WET PROCESS - VIRGIN UNREFINED ​​- Recommended

The wet process is the term used when making virgin coconut oil because the coconut meat is literally washed with water.

Unlike the "dry process", where the coconut is separated, dried into copra, and then heated and refined, the "wet process" begins first with the meat of the coconut being washed with water and then either left to dry or processed through a "wet mill" (think mill + water). Eventually, the coconut meat is sent through a "screw press" and the oil is extracted.

If the milk is being used, the coconut meat and milk are mixed with water and then strained to produce oil. After this process, there is sometimes another step; cook down the meat over a low flame to separate the remainder of the oil and maximize yield. Cooking the meat and milk with water and a low flame can also be done before to separate the oil.

Ultimately, there are many extraction methods to produce virgin coconut oil.

"Fractionation is a separation process in which a certain quantity of a mixture (gas, solid, liquid, enzymes, suspension, or isotope) is divided during a phase transition, into a number of smaller quantities (fractions) in which the composition varies according to a gradient" (12).

In other words, fractionation is a process that will deconstruct coconut material into separate parts (molecularly) and produce a liquid oil much different in structure than which it was before. There are a variety of methods in which one may "fractionate" something, we prefer the steam distillation method.​ Coconut oil is high in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). New research suggests that the MCFAs found in coconut oil may have a future role in nutrition and health; MCFAs are what all the buzz is about!

​ Depending on the process used to fractionate, one can concentrate the amount of MCFAs found in coconut oil and produce what is known as a medium chain triglycerides (MCT) oil; an oil created with the soul purpose to concentrate MCFAs.

What Are The Benefits Of Coconut Oil?

Antifungal and ANTIBACTERIAL

The Journal of International Society of Preventive and Community Dentistry conducted an "in vivo" study on the comparison of the antibacterial efficacy of coconut oil and chlorhexidine (antiseptic antibacterial agent) on Streptococcus mutans(tooth decay). Published on October, 24, 2016 the study found that:​

​"There is a statistically significant decrease in S. mutans. count from coconut oil as well as chlorhexidine group from baseline to 30 days. The study also showed that in comparison of coconut oil and chlorhexidine there is no statistically significant change regarding the antibacterial efficacy." - JISPCD (1)

A different study conducted by the Skin and Cancer Foundation found that using virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil as a topical agent for moisturizing the skin helped reduce Staphylococcus aureus (SA) bacteria during the "decolonization" of Atopic dermatitis (10).​Conclusion:

Coconut oil is as effective as chlorhexidine in the reduction of S. mutans. and can help in the reduction of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (1) (10).

​​These studies show that coconut oil has antibacterial properties.

Alzheimer's dementia treatment and prevention

Volume 114 Issue 1 by the British Journal of Nutrition examines, "the role of dietary coconut for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease" (3). The article suggests that diet may play an important role in the prevention of Alzheimer's Disease:​

"The use of coconut oil (extra virgin/virgin), coconut water and coconut cream may have significant positive effects on the lowering of plasma cholesterol, blood pressure (BP) control and blood glucose levels, all of which are risk factors associated with AD" -British Journal of Nutrition (3)

BJN writes that the kind of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA's) found in coconut oil have a quicker metabolic conversion allowing them to be used immediately as fuel for organs and muscles instead of being stored as fat. They go on to suggest that these MCFA's can reduce obesity to an extent and that obesity "is an independent risk factor for hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, which are, in turn, the risk factors associated with AD" (3).

In addition, these MCFA's can be converted into ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are a clean, alternative (to glucose) fuel that is capable of passing through the blood-brain barrier.

​ This research suggests that ketogenic dietshave "been found to be one of the most effective therapies for drug-resistant epilepsy; it has also provided specific benefits in conditions such as GLUT protein I (GLUT-I) deficiency, pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency, myoclonic-astatic epilepsy (Doose syndrome), tuberous sclerosis complex, Rett syndrome and severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (Dravet syndrome) (3).

Conclusion:

The implementation of dietary coconut oil may be a step taken to reduce the risk of AD.

reduce risk of Heart disease and induce weight loss

Just as the MCFA's found in coconut oil (previously mentioned) have a faster metabolic conversion allowing fuel to the brain very efficiently, they are also immediately absorbed through the small intestine and sent to the liver to be rapidly used for energy production and thusly "do not participate in the biosynthesis and transport of cholesterol" (4) (7).

The Ghana Medical Journal wrote:

​"​Coconut oil has been shown to have the potential to protect aganst not only heart disease but a wide variety of chronic health problems including diabetes and cancer as well as a means to prevent and even treat infectious diseases, however, knowledge about coconut oil has been kept buried in medical journals because of a general prejudice against saturated fats"(4) (8).

​ When the GMJ refers to general prejudice, they are talking about "consumer activist groups and organizations such as Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other members of the edible oil industry" (4). Jon J. Kabara, echoes this when he writes "the past four decades misinformation and disinformation provided by certain politically biased agricultural groups and repeated in professional and lay press have lead people to believe that all saturated fats are unhealthy" (9). We will dive into this deeper later.

In a study conducted by the Department of Animal Science and the Animal Dairy Science Department, results concluded thatconjugated linoleic acid (CLA) induces enhanced body fat loss in mice when fed coconut oil. If you research further into the weight loss possibilities of CLA’s, you will yield even more fascinating research on the subject.

Is Coconut Oil Good For Your Skin?

In short, yes. There is not a lot of research on the effects of coconut oil and skin care, but there is some. The physical properties of coconut oil (specifically the MCFAs and MCTs) are what we should focus on when we talk about the benefits of coconut oil on the skin.

It is Highly Moisturizing

It is agreed upon around the globe by consumers and scientists that coconut oil is very moisturizing for our skin. There are many oils in the world that are good for the skin and some that are more readily absorbed by our skin cells than others.

​ Coconut oil falls under this category. To support this claim, we need to reference the information we mentioned earlier regarding MCFAs and MCTs. Previously, under "ALZHEIMER'S DEMENTIA TREATMENT AND PREVENTION" we wrote:​

"BJN writes that the kind of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA's) found in coconut oil have a quicker metabolic conversion allowing them to be used immediately as fuel for organs and muscles instead of being stored as fat. They go on to suggest that these MCFA's can reduce obesity to an extent and that obesity 'is an independent risk factor for hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, which are, in turn, the risk factors associated with AD' (3)."

In addition to this, we also referenced MCTs and concentrated MCFA oil:

"Coconut oil is high in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). New research suggests that the MCFAs found in coconut oil may have a future role in nutrition and health; MCFAs are what all the buzz is about!

​ Depending on the process used to fractionate, one can concentrate the amount of MCFAs found in coconut oil and produce what is known as a medium chain triglycerides (MCT) oil; an oil created with the soul purpose to concentrate MCFAs."

Our Skin Is An Organ!

So what is so special about the MCTs and MCFAs found in coconut oil? ​

They are more readily available as fuel for our organs and muscles.​​​​

They are capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier as ketones

This is important because our SKIN is an ORGAN. Human skin is actually the largest organ belonging to a human being. Our skin is basically layers and layers of cells, and we consistently absorb through these cells throughout the day.

Conclusion:

Because the skin is an organ, and because research shows that the MCFAs and MCTs found in coconut oil are immediately absorbed by human muscles and organs, we can connect these two understandings to find the correlation that coconut oil is indeed a good moisturizer readily absorbed by human skin.

It Helps Repair the SKIN

A study published on June 3rd, 2010 by the Biochemistry Department at the University of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram, India, tested to "evaluate the effect of a topical application of virgin coconut oil (VCO) on excision wounds in young rats" (14).

The study found that the rats treated with VCO (virgin coconut oil) had their wounds healed much faster than the rats that were not treated with VCO. ​

​ "VCO-treated wounds healed much faster, as indicated by a decreased time of complete epithelization and higher levels of various skin components."

Conclusion:

That the benefits presented by VCO can be attributed to the "various biologically active minor components present in it" (14) - mirroring our claim on the moisturizing properties of coconut oil.

IT Stabilizes the HEALTH OF NEWBORN Babies

​ Although this may sound unfamiliar to those of us born and raised in western societies, oil rubbing a newborn after birth is a common practice found around the world. This next study was conducted at the Nursery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Aga Khan University Hospital in Pakistan.​

"Newborn oil massage, a traditional community practice, could potentially benefit thermoregulation and skin barrier function, and prevent serious infections, morbidity, and mortality in high-risk preterm infants, but has only been evaluated in limited studies in low-income settings" (13).

​ For much of human history, childbirth has been a dangerous game and has taken the lives of many women. It has also taken the lives of many newborn children. Traditional methods have been established to help stabilize a newborn's health after birth, and in Pakistan, applying coconut oil to the body of a neonate is one of them.

Conclusion:

"Topical emollient therapy was effective in maintaining skin integrity and reducing the risk of bloodstream infection in preterm infants in a tertiary hospital setting in Pakistan. The effectiveness of this approach in primary care settings needs to be further explored" (13).​

Side Note: Below I have included the list of contributing authors for this PubMed article. It is impressive.​

How The Coconut Is Used Around The World

Culinary

One of my favorite uses for coconut; cooking! From coconut shavings on a fruit and walnut salad to exquisite pastries and chocolates, the world really does love coconut. It is popular in pastries and desserts because of its high melting point, similar to butter, there for it can "hold shape" in warmer climates. Especially so if the oil has been hydrogenated. Here are a couple of suggestions on how to use coconut in the kitchen.

Eggs; fried, scrambled, omelets, in egg salad instead of mayonnaise, you name it.

Toast; coconut oil is a great alternative to buttered bread. Try in combination with a fruit jam or jelly.

Coffee; bulletproof coffee is specifically what I am referencing here, although you can absolutely use just coconut oil as a creamer substitute.

Soup; oftentimes instead of butter, I will use coconut oil and flour to make a rue. I will also prepare a mirepoix using coconut oil. I have a great cream of mushroom soup that uses absolutely no dairy. Think of the coconut oil, cream, and milk as the dairy alternatives. Swap them out ounce for ounce.

Coconut water; from the coconut itself or the jug at the store!

Coconut shavings on salads and oatmeal

Homemade granola bars; need I say more?

There's my short list, I think you get the idea! It is important to note that when you cook with coconut oil, you will also cook out most of the "coconut" flavor and aroma. This is due to the reaction of the oil when it is introduced to heat, much like the deodorizing process that occurs through refinement.

​HYGIENE

In addition to the health benefits we have already mentioned, coconut oil can be made into toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, shampoo, and other common hygiene items. Coconut oil is also becoming an increasingly popular choice for "oil pulling". What is oil pulling? To oil pull:

Place a tablespoon of oil in your mouth and "swish" for twenty minutes. Spit out the oil. It is important that you do not swallow the oil because it defeats the purpose of the action.

The idea is that oil, which is known for its ability to attach itself to things, will "pull" the toxins and bacteria out of your mouth. The purpose of this is that the human mouth is one of the most bacteria-filled places of the body. If we can collect and dismiss the bacteria here, we avoid ingesting and processing these toxins internally.

Ayurveda

Oil pulling is an ancient dental technique practiced in Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic medicine (also known as just Ayurveda) is one of the longest standing health care practices known to human history. It has been studied and practiced in India, where it originated, for over 3,000 years.

Coconut oil may be a popular pulling oil in Ayurveda because of it's close proximity to Malaysia, one of the regions where coconuts are believed to have originated. But is it just a coincidence that coconut oil contains antibacterial properties, or did the masterminds behind Ayurveda know this from the beginning?​

FUEL AND ENERGY

Coconut oil can be processed down to a form that is known as biodiesel. Biodiesel is also known as a form of fuel made from vegetable oil or animal fat. Similarly, you can process coconut oil to create a biodiesel fuel, a fuel that can be used to power diesel engines which in return provide us with services such as transportation and electricity. Cool!

Homes and Infrastructure

Just as wood from any tree can be used to build a structure, the coconut palm tree can be cut down and turned into planks for construction. This is a more common practice in the parts of the world where the coconut tree grows naturally in abundance.

In addition, the leaves are used for roof and wall material for a building or home. You can build a house with a coconut tree! For some cultures, the coconut palm tree really is the "tree of life".

If you're interested, I have attached below a downloadable PDF version of a coconut palm tree wood processing manual. I did not write this, but it is available to the public for download and I wanted to pass it along.​